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Caught in the crux of Israel's economic
metamorphosis, the textile industry prepares to
move into the post-low-tech era.

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r

aced in the 1950s with Jerusalem's Talpiot neighborhood
masses of unemployed im- have left work early to get home
migrants and a decrepit in- in time for the evening feast. The
frastructure, then-Minister remaining workers in the facto-
of Commerce and Industry Pin- ry are busy folding and packing
has Sapir attracted money from Liz Claiborne T-shirts into plastic
abroad and set out to develop new bags, which are then packed up
factories. The energetic, thickly and shipped abroad.
bespectacled native of Poland,
The T-shirts are not your typic—'
whose Yiddish was better than cal thin, white undershirts. Pat-
his Hebrew, lacked formal eco- terned with various colored
nomic education but laid the foun- fabrics, embroidered with little
dations for Israeli low-tech by gold stars and meticulously fold-
prioritizing and funneling capital ed and placed into their individ-
to labor-intensive industries ual wrappings, they hit the
where Jews had traditionally ex- shelves at Macy's in New York,
where the price tag will not read
celled.
Textiles was a natural choice $7.99, the standard price of its sin-
for Mr. Sapir's designs. Knowing gle knit counterpart, but some-
that many Jewish industrialists thing more along the lines of $50,/\
had deep roots planted in
the textile business,
Mr. Sapir targeted that in-
dustry and began to con-
tact international clothing
makers such as Israel Pol-
lack.
When the Romanian-
born Pollack, who had em-
igrated to Chile following
World War II, indicated his
fears about setting up a
business in a Negev devel-
opment town, Mr. Sapir re-
torted: "The State of Israel
was built neither with an
When British-born Kevin Pearl
accountant's book nor a statisti-
decided to open a factory a year
cal table, but with the heart."
Mr. Pollack was persuaded. He and a half ago, he concluded from
decided to open a textile factory in market trends that if there was
Kiryat Gat, then a dusty, off-the- any future in Israeli textiles, it was
beaten-path town of 4,000 resi- in better quality, higher-pricedci
dents. After five years of trying to goods. With high labor costs, an
oversee the operation from South increasingly expensive shekel and
America, Mr. Pollack packed up the falling of trade barriers, pro-
and moved to Israel where he duction of simply made items was
turned Polgat (the Tol' came from becoming unprofitable.
"The world market in textiles
his name; the 'Gat' from the com-
pany's hometown) into a widely is looking for cheaper products and
respected exporter of men's and because of labor costs, Israel can't
compete," said Mr. Pearl, who
women's upscale clothing.
However, with local production opened the business with his
costs rapidly rising and low-pay- mother. His family has been in the
ing Third World competitors pro- textile business for generations.
liferating by the day, idealism can "To compete, we have gone up-
no longer sustain the Sapir-era's market in quality. Instead of sell-
ing a $3 garment, we sell a $9 one;
industrial dinosaurs.
And now, the relationship be- instead of producing 25,000 piece
tween Jews and shmattes, which orders, we produce 1,000-2,000
dates back to biblical Judea, tal- piece orders."
While his company can survive
mudic Babylon and turn-of-the-
century Manhattan, must once by continuing to produce the high-
er-end goods, Mr. Pearl also con-
again be redefined.
It's a Thursday afternoon dur- cedes that the textile industry has
ing the Muslim holiday of Ra- become a Darwinian jungle.
"It's survival of the fittest right
madan, and many of the 40
workers at the Pearl Anderson now," he said, noting that when
plant Al ,an "irIctugrj41.zone_ cf.
, ,
,-,04CT,IIAS page 66
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